Reviews tagging 'Terminal illness'

The Devil Takes You Home by Gabino Iglesias

20 reviews

kdwhite's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Body horror, Blood, Child death, Death, Child abuse, Gore, Violence, Addiction, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Terminal illness, and Cannibalism

Moderate: Racial slurs and Racism

Minor: Suicide attempt

ldpaige's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

this book was such a rollercoaster. there were the best of times, there were the worst of times. one thing you cannot say is that iglesias cannot write simple and poetic prose. there were several moments of beauty where i could relish in the abilities of iglesias. but mario

as a character was simply unbearable. i felt like iglesias could have done a better job at making him LIKABLE, which would have easily made this book a 4 star or higher. 

other than that, i enjoyed the ride even if it was a bit bumpy.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Violence, Gun violence, Transphobia, Vomit, Racial slurs, Racism, and Terminal illness

Moderate: Medical content, Medical trauma, Drug abuse, and Child death

sarinac_reads's review

challenging dark sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

This book is not for the faint of heart!! Graphic and gory and overall disturbing, this is not a light read. Nevertheless, it is beautifully written with both poetic prose and highly sympathetic insights into one grieving and deeply troubled man's psyche (a tall feat, considering the acts that this man commits throughout the book).

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Cannibalism, Hate crime, Body horror, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Murder, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Torture, Transphobia, Violence, Toxic friendship, Xenophobia, Racial slurs, and War

szmay's review

fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Animal cruelty, Xenophobia, Body horror, Drug use, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Pregnancy, Terminal illness, Murder, Racism, Racial slurs, Gore, Grief, Medical trauma, Trafficking, and Violence

nithya_natalya's review

dark tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

True to the descriptions, this book was genre-bending, and I loved that. It wasn’t a typical horror novel, but sort of naturally blended horror elements into hyper-gritty realism. None of the supernatural elements felt out of place. I thought that at times the points that the author made about racism were heavy handed. But maybe being heavy handed is a good thing. One star deducted for his depiction of women. I felt like most of the women were not multidimensional at all. I think that might have been part of the point. The character sort of mythologized the women in his life, rather than seeing them as real people. But sometimes it was hard to tell whether it was intentional or just the authors own biases leaking through? 

One note: there is a good amount of Spanish mixed into the novel, although it is mostly written in English. I would recommend not trying to translate those sections if you don’t understand them. Writing parts of conversations in Spanish was an artistic choice. Imo, non Spanish speakers are not meant to know what’s being said. That’s part of the experience of it. Spanish speakers will catch everything and non-Spanish speaker will miss things, feel lost, or not fully understand. And to me, that is part of the point of the artistic choice that was made. If not understanding what’s going on makes you feel uncomfortable, sit with that! 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Drug use, Domestic abuse, Torture, Child abuse, Body horror, Child death, Racial slurs, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, and Cannibalism

jaimee_reads's review

Nothing particularly bad about the book, but I've tried twice to read it and lost interest both times. It's a very slow burn.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Child death, Body horror, Child abuse, Grief, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Domestic abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Drug abuse, Chronic illness, Terminal illness, Violence, and Gore

bookmark3brodi's review

adventurous dark mysterious sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Blood, Body horror, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Abandonment, Bullying, Child death, Classism, Death, Gore, Pregnancy, War, Murder, Drug abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Cultural appropriation, Drug use, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Grief, Cancer, Cursing, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Racial slurs, Racism, Toxic friendship, Misogyny, Violence, Addiction, and Chronic illness

jennifer_bush_73's review

dark slow-paced

2.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Racial slurs, Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Blood, Cannibalism, Chronic illness, Cancer, Physical abuse, Terminal illness, Torture, Death of parent, Violence, Confinement, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Cursing, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gaslighting, Car accident, Child abuse, Child death, Emotional abuse, Pregnancy, Alcohol, Body horror, Bullying, and Suicidal thoughts

kermit_the_wrong's review

I really wanted to like this one but I think it just isn't for me. It left me feeling kind of sad and gross whenever I would listen to the audiobook, and not in a good way. 

I've heard it compared to This Thing Between Us, and I can see the similarities in how it explores grief, but it didn't have that same feeling of cosmic horror.

I do appreciate the themes of this book and the writing. I just don't particularly like the heavy feeling of it. I may go back to this at some other point in time. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Murder, Pregnancy, Classism, Child death, Grief, Gun violence, Blood, Terminal illness, Violence, Gore, Addiction, Domestic abuse, Body horror, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Injury/Injury detail, Racism, Medical content, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, and Toxic friendship

ashleymg99's review

challenging dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.5

This book just wasn’t for me. I was really interested in the mysticism, but it was just a bit too dark, gritty, and gory for my personal taste. Some scenes are very graphic (violent) and hard to read, and I don’t consider myself to have a weak stomach. Overall, the book was pretty depressing. I think the writing was great, and the story had a unique premise, but the tone was a bit too rough for me

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Violence, Body horror, Murder, Racism, Grief, Torture, Death, Gore, Child death, Child abuse, Xenophobia, and Racial slurs

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Terminal illness, Suicidal thoughts, Injury/Injury detail, Domestic abuse, Alcohol, Cancer, Addiction, Cursing, Drug use, and Blood